Philly

Today was a day full of history. Our bus picked us up at the campground in Paradise, PA in Lancaster County, aka Amish Country, and took us to downtown Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. What a contrast in cultures. 

Our tour guide told us that Philadelphia used to be known as Filthydelpia and that preparing for the Centennial Celebration cleaned up the city.  It is quite nice now. It has similar architecture to NY City, however the streets here are wider and the city is not nearly as crowded.  People seem respectful and have a bit of patience.  AND, you actually can see the sun between the buildings. 

Philadelphia is the birthplace of our nation with a lot of history being on display. To beat the crowds we started early in the morning at the Liberty Bell.  Trying to preserve it, it is now housed inside a building.  You must go through security to see it and since we were so early, we didn't have a long line to wait through.

Next we toured around the "City of Brotherly Love" on the bus and learned that it was the first "planned" city in the US.  Also, the actor Kevin Bacon's dad was the City Planner for quite some time. We were also told that the city passed a law that 1% of building/remodeling money spent must be spent on art to decorate the city, therefore there are lots of statues around.

Sylvestor Stalone as Rocky Balboa! A Philly boy!

Famous Love Park

 A man who was squatting in a building waited until they were tearing them down and he built this "art".

We also went through the Betsy Ross home.  She was the seamstress of the colonial flag and made many in her lifetime.  She lived to be 86 which was quite the accomplishment. 

Betsy and her third husband are buried here

Lunch was in the restored Bourse Building where the tour guide recommended a shop for an authenic Philly Cheese Steak sandwich.  Was surprised that the beef was practically ground, expected it to be sliced.  Good but huuuummmm..

After lunch we toured Independence Hall.  Very interesting presentation that really brought home how our founding fathers started this country.  Today there is a lot of discussion about politics but that is nothing new ! !   Always a tough time trying to please everyone. The colonies were always trying to keep control from the federal government.